I am not going to take a side. While I don’t like government, many protesters are fascists, and extreme nationalists. And of course, the protests started because people were unhappy that the government choose to side with one imperial power (Russia), instead of another (the EU). Neither option is one that I like (though the EU appears nicer than Russia).

A French minister said sanctions would target those who started the violence. Others in the “West” have also talked about sanctions.

Where were/are the sanctions against the British (many examples, including riots in 2011)? Where where the sanctions against other governments responding with violence against protesters? No, in the “West”, government violence is lawful.

Once again, we see the West’s hypocrisy. The Ukrainian government is on the wrong side, the West condemns the government, and not the protesters, despite video of protesters preparing Molotov cocktails. If this was happening in a Western country, it would be the protesters being condemned.

The solution, as always, is to do away with the lot…

—–

A month later, and Russia has out and out annexed Crimea after a referendum of the population there supported the idea. The hypocrisy continues. Russia is all for places have referendum and such when it supports them, but not when it comes to parts of Russia itself (e.g. Chechnya). (Similarly, much of the west is the same, I doubt the USA would allow a referendum in southern California for joining Mexico, or becoming independent.)

My question is, how long has the Russian government been planning this? They didn’t want to lose their warm-water port. But the lease was until ~2040. But Ukraine looked likely to join the EU (and subsequently NATO) well before then. Russia was worried, but now isn’t nearly as worried. No one is going to go to war with Russia over Crimea (except, perhaps, Ukraine). And so Russia gets what they want, and the world will forget it all within a year or two.

——

As always, fuck the government, fuck war (no war but the class war), fuck nationalism, fuck patriotism, fuck capitalism,

Bodyhammer: Tactics and Self-Defense for the Modern Protester by sarin, also known as the ShieldBook is a great book on the construction of shields for a protest. It also covers other forms of “passive armaments”, such as body armor, and tactics in engaging the police. This is version 1.1. The original can be found at sarin’s section of the the devo art network website. To quote sarin:

“Bodyhammer: Tactics and Self-Defence For the Modern Protester” is a booklet detailing means by which protesters can reclaim the freedom of movement and assembly through self-defence and protection.

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